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The Talismanic Seal Stone of Crete: a Re-Evaluation

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The Talismanic Seal Stone of Crete: a Re-Evaluation University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Theses, Dissertations, and Student Creative Activity, Art, Art History and Design, School of School of Art, Art History and Design 5-2017 The aliT smanic Seal Stone of Crete: A Re- evaluation. Catherine Stram University of Nebraska-Lincoln, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/artstudents Part of the Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture Commons Stram, Catherine, "The alT ismanic Seal Stone of Crete: A Re-evaluation." (2017). Theses, Dissertations, and Student Creative Activity, School of Art, Art History and Design. 120. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/artstudents/120 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Art, Art History and Design, School of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses, Dissertations, and Student Creative Activity, School of Art, Art History and Design by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. THE TALISMANIC SEAL STONE OF CRETE: A RE-EVALUATION By Catherine Stram A THESIS Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College of the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts Major: Art History Under the Supervision of Professor Philip Sapirstein Lincoln, Nebraska May, 2017 THE TALISMANIC SEAL STONE OF CRETE: A RE-EVALUATION. Catherine Stram, MA University of Nebraska, 2017 Advisor: Philip Sapirstein This thesis presents a re-evaluation of the talismanic seal stones of Crete. Its purpose is to present previous scholarship on these seal stones, introduce the reader to a new way of recording and viewing seal stones through Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), and to offer the data from a study on 384 talismanic seal stones. Seals were small stones or pieces of wood or ivory with intaglio, meaning designs were cut into their surface in order to create a relief when stamped in wet clay or a similar substance. They served several purposes: as identification, as a way of showing ownership, as a magical charm, and as portable art or jewelry. By around 2500 BCE, seal stones were in use on the island of Crete. Most of these seal stones were used for their sphragistic properties – that is, authenticating documents or otherwise securing property. The talismanic stones, categorized by Sir Arthur Evans, were rarely used in this way. Evans believed these stones were worn as magical charms or talismans. His idea has been criticized, but today we are no closer to ascertaining how this type of seal stone was used. For this study, the data on 384 talismanic seal stones was collected and organized. RTI was performed on 12 seal stones, as a new way of making digital surrogates and learning more information about the stone surface. The results of this study are presented here to clear up some of the confusion surrounding the talismanic seal stone of Crete. iv Table of Contents Abstract…………………………………. ii List of Images………………………….. v Introduction……………………………. 1 Chapter I………………………………… 8 Chapter II………………………………. 25 Chapter III……………………………… 43 Bibliography……………………………. 70 Appendix A……………………………… 74 Appendix B……………………………… 84 v List of Images (Figure # --- Page #) Figure 1.1 --- 15 - A three-sided hieroglyphic seal stone with a chart showing signs from seal stones tablets (Image from Palace of Minos Vol I). Figure 1.2 --- 16 - Seal stone with ‘Minoan Genius’ and ceiling of inner chamber of Senmut Tomb (Images from Palace of Minos Vol IV, Part II) Figure 1.3 --- 18 - Vessel types identified by Evans (Images from Palace of Minos Vol IV, Part II) Figure 1.4 --- 19 - Lions' Mask seal stones (Image from Palace of Minos Vol I). Figure 1.5 --- 20 - Rustic shrine of the Snake Goddess (Image from Palace of Minos Vol I) Figure 2.1 --- 27 - The basic set up when doing the highlight-based method and the direction the light should fall to create raking light (both images from Duffy et al 2013). Figure 2.2 --- 28 - RTIBuilder Figure 2.3 --- 28 - RTIViewer Figure 2.4 --- 29 – An object rendered through surface normals and same object rendered through spectral enhancement. Figure 2.5 --- 32 - Dome created for the RTISAD project (image from Earl et al, 2011). Figure 2.6 --- 34 - Statue head of Amazon during recording and virtual reconstruction (image a from Earl et al, 2011 and image b from Happa et al, 2009). Figure 2.7 --- 37 - The placement of the handheld light during RTI (image modified from Cultural Heritage Imaging). Figure 2.8 --- 40 - Setup for capturing photograph Figure 2.9 --- 42 - RTI images: CMS II, 2, 16; CMS II, 3, 80; CMS II, 4, 193; CMS II, 3, 361; CMS II, 3, 72. Figure 3.1 --- 44 - Division of Crete vi Figure 3.2 --- 46 - Talismanic seal stones found on Crete from CMS Vol I – IV Table 3.3 --- 47 - Name of site and number of talismanic seal stones found Figure 3.4 --- 48 - Talismanic seal stones with and without recorded excavated context Figure 3.5 --- 49 - Percentages of stone shape. Figure 3.6 --- 50 - Examples of amygdaloid shaped seal stones: CMS II, 3, 361 and CMS II, 3, 80 Figure 3.7 --- 51 - Examples of lentoid shaped stones: CMS II, 3, 73; CMS II, 4, 223 and CMS II, 3, 313 Figure 3.8 --- 52 - Seal stones made of carnelian: CMS II, 4, 153 and CMS II, 3, 367. Figure 3.9 --- 53 - Percentages of stones. Figure 3.10 --- 54 - Map of materials used to make talismanic seal stones, excluding carnelian and jasper. Figure 3.11 --- 55 – Map with locations where amethyst talismanic stones have been found and the three stones from Gournia: CMS II, 3, 244; CMS II, 3, 245 and CMS II, 3, 247. Figure 3.12 --- 57 - Talismanic stones with fish: CMS IV, 187; CMS II, 4, 95 and CMS II, 2, 16. (Drawings from CMS). Figure 3.13 --- 59 - Distribution of the three most popular motifs. Figure 3.14 --- 60 - Distribution of vessel motif. Figure 3.15 --- 61 - Three very similar looking stones: CMS III, 337; CMS IV, 169 and CMS IV, 172 (Images from the CMS). Figure 3.16 --- 64 - Part of the Cupbearer fresco and its location at Knossos (Image on left taken at the Archaeological Museum at Heraklion and image on right taken at Knossos). Figure 3.17 --- 65 - String hole orientation in amygdaloid and lentoid shaped stones: CMS II, 3, 42 and CMS II, 3, 91 (Images taken at the Archaeological Museum in Heraklion). vii Figure 3.18 --- 66 - The back of CMS II, 3, 92. Figure 3.19 --- 67 - CMS II, 3, 313; CMS II, 3, 251 and CMS II, 3, 295 (Images taken at Archaeological Museum at Heraklion). Table 4.1 --- 75 - Spreadsheet with location name, coordinates, and number of talismanic seal stones found. Figure 4.2 --- 76 - Map with Minoan sites where talismanic seal stones have been found. Figure 4.3 --- 77 - Locations for talismanic seal stones found in excavated context Figure 4.4 --- 78 - Locations of talismanic seal stones without excavated context Figure 4.5 --- 79 - Materials of talismanic seal stones. Figure 4.6 --- 80 - Materials talismanic seal stones. Figure 4.7 --- 81 - Shapes of talismanic seal stones. Figure 4.8 --- 82 - Motifs on talismanic seal stones. Table 4.9 --- 83 - Graph of talismanic seal stones 1 Introduction Seals were small stones or pieces of wood or ivory with intaglio, meaning designs were cut into the surface in a way that when stamped in wet clay or a similar substance the impression left was in relief. They have been in use since at least the 6th millennium BCE when they appear at various Near Eastern centers.1 Seal stones served several purposes: as identification, as a way of showing ownership, as a magical charm, and as portable art. Mesopotamia, Syria, and Egypt began using seals stones primarily for their sphragistic properties, meaning they were being used as seals to authenticate documents or secure property.2 They would be a necessity for any civilization that acknowledged property ownership. By around 2500 BCE Crete was also making use of seal stones.3 It was this date when the civilization there began to flourish and relationships with the Near East and Egypt opened. Their use of seal stones expanded beyond using them as identification and security to include personal adornment and magic. The talismanic stones, identified by Sir Arthur Evans, are a class of seal stones that were rarely used as seals.4 It was his belief that they were worn as magical charms or talismans. 1 Collon1997, 9. 2 Ibid., 11-46. 3 Boardman 1970, 22. 4 Younger 1988, xii-xiii. There have been seven examples of talismanic stones used as seals found on Crete. These seven sealings were found at five locations: three from Chania, and one each from Gournia, Agia Triadha, Kato Zakros, and Knossos. 2 This thesis presents a re-evaluation of the talismanic seal stone found on Crete. Few studies have been done on this material and the ones that exist disagree on many points. A total of 384 talismanic stones were collected, organized, and studied in preparation of the thesis. The stones included in this study are from the Corpus der minoischen und mykenischen Siegel (CMS), Volumes I; IS; II,I; II,2; II,3; II,4; II,5; II,6; II,7; II,8; III; and IV. These volumes include 4,701 seal stones in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens and the Archaeological Museum in Heraklion.5 The 384 stones, included in this study were thought to be sufficient to identify the characteristics of this type of seal stone. The gathered material was compared to previous scholarship to identify any inconsistencies.
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